Shotgun
by squarey
Summary: Playing with different ways to use the word shotgun. "Her eyes never left him, like if she was to look away she would lose track of him."
1. Chapter 1

**Shotgun**

**Premise**: I was in a conversation playing with the multiple meaning of words. So, a few thoughts (potential chapters) hit my brain playing with the word _shotgun_

**Timeline**: This is in a timeline of some prior works, kind of after _There is a first time for everything_. So, it involves Lucy (a character of mine). Though you probably don't have to be a rocket scientist to follow my simple writing.

* * *

Bobby Goren stood in his garage. He loved to stand in his garage. He loved to think about the words _his garage_. He had never owned a house with a garage. Hell, he had never owned a house. Though, he and Lucy and their baby girl Addie hadn't yet moved into their house (_their house_, he loved that). They had signed the papers about 2 months ago, but there were some renovations that Lucy had wanted to do, including a major overhaul of the kitchen. So, on days off they would work on the house together. Sometimes, if they had a lot to do, Lucy's sister Laura would watch Addie. Bobby was actually working today and had stopped by the house just to see how Lucy was doing with some of the painting. He was surprised to not find here there. He guessed that maybe she had gone over to Laura's to check on Addie.

Bobby looked around the garage, fairly empty except for some minor construction supplies. He closed his eyes and imagined his garage full, but he didn't imagine it full with a car, he imagined plastic ride-on toys, big wheels, maybe a tiny little bicycle. He imagined bouncy balls, small and large. He imagined a plastic climby thing with maybe a small slide. He imagined all of the things that he felt sure would make Addie smile and laugh. He could barely believe that Addie would be 6 months old soon. It seemed as if Ada Elizabeth Goren had only entered the world yesterday. At 6 months she was babbling non-stop, sitting on her own, clapping and smiling. She definitely was beginning to know who was who, and he felt each and every time that he held her that she loved him.

At work, he was still assigned to the task force that cut across a few major cities on organized crime and drug trafficking. He had managed to pull Eames into the fray, so things actually felt pretty good. Hectic, but good. This week had been especially difficult. They were on the verge of potentially bringing in two major players, and he figured things would really jump in a day or so. Therefore, part of the reason for stopping by the house in this relatively quiet time was to simply see Lucy and maybe see Addie, not necessarily to check in on how Lucy was doing with the painting.

Bobby glanced at his watch, starting to feel slightly disappointed that he might miss them. He didn't have much time. He was a bit warm standing in the garage. He still had on his Kevlar vest between his undershirt and his flannel shirt. They had raided a house earlier in the day. It had been disappointing and hadn't yielded much. Now, he was starting to wish he had taken a moment to take it off before driving out to the house. Though, any moment changing his clothes would have been a moment lost, and if he had stopped to do that he might not have been able to step away and drive out to the house.

He stepped out of the garage into the driveway to look down the street. He had his hand on his cell phone in his pocket when someone stepped from the side of the house in front of him. At first, Bobby could only see the shotgun barrel. Then slowly, Bobby's eyes traveled from the barrel of the gun, up the man's arm, to the man's face. Bobby immediately recognized Theo Fernandez, one of the key 

players in the case he was working, one of the men the task force was going to arrest in the next day or so. Fernandez was smiling, coldly, his eyes fixed on Bobby's. He was carrying the deadly weapon almost casually. Bobby had been about to pull out his phone to dial Lucy. Instead he pressed redial for Eames. He hoped that Eames would pick up and listen to what was about to go down.

"Detective." Fernandez said, and walked forward. Bobby automatically walked backward into the garage. "Sorry to ruin your weekend plans."

"I didn't realize I had weekend plans." Bobby replied, keeping his tone neutral, careful. Bobby's mind was racing trying to figure out how Fernandez came to know about the task force plans to apprehend him that weekend, let alone how Fernandez came to find out Bobby's personal address, and how Fernandez knew that Bobby would be stopping by the house at this particular time. Not even Bobby knew he was stopping by until he spontaneously found himself with a free hour. Bobby figured that Fernandez had somehow followed him, which actually didn't make much sense, because Bobby felt he would've noticed being followed.

"Come now Detective, exactly how clueless do you believe me to be?" Fernandez's tone was pleasant, almost conversational. "I'm somewhat surprised to find you here Detective. Don't the police ever actually do police work anymore?"

Bobby's heart began to thud in his ears as his brain fully comprehended the last thing Theo Fernandez had said. Fernandez hadn't followed Bobby. In fact he wasn't even there for Bobby. It was clear to Bobby that Fernandez was most likely there for Lucy, and coming across Bobby was unintentional.

"Oh, did I just give my master plan away?" Fernandez faked surprise. "I can see the little wheels in your brain turning Detective."

"What is it that you want Fernandez?" Bobby asked, his hands automatically a bit in the air. Bobby looked at the shotgun again, thinking of the shotgun he had in his departmental vehicle.

"Well clearly you have already masterfully put together that I didn't want you." Fernandez shifted the large weapon slightly in his grasp. "But now that I have you, what do you suppose I should do?" Again, Fernandez continued in a strangely civil tone.

"Well you should probably take me. Whatever it is you want, I'm thinking I would make a pretty good bargaining chip for you." Bobby moved to take a slight step forward. His chest was starting to constrict thinking about the possibility that Lucy would be returning soon, and what if Addie was with her. He wanted to be gone. He wanted his family to stay safe.

"That would be lovely wouldn't it? For me to take you." Fernandez did not follow Bobby's subtle lead. He did not take a step backward. "But it was you that I wanted to bargain with… so taking you would not exactly advance my position."

Bobby could feel his mouth go a bit dry. "Well, then you should probably change your position, because you have me now." Bobby managed to keep his tone cool, conversationally echoing Fernandez. Again, 

Bobby took a slight step forward, hoping Fernandez would follow his lead and take him and his family would remain safe.

Bobby felt an opening to turn things around as he watched almost in slow motion as Fernandez's attention was turned toward the honk of the horn from a car down the street. Bobby drew his weapon from the holster fastened to the small of his back and fired. Fernandez had changed position, so Bobby hit him in the arm. The shotgun discharged, blasting Bobby square in the chest. Bobby fell backward from the force of the blast, his head slamming into the cold concrete of the garage floor. For a moment, Bobby couldn't seem to open his eyes. He was struggling, he had to get focus, but he had no air inside of him, and his head felt like he had split it open. He blinked, opening his eyes, his vision blurry. He located his gun a few feet away. He looked up to find Fernandez standing over him, the shotgun trained at his chest.

"Aw Detective. Now you've ruined all my plans, and my shirt." Fernandez sardonically referred to the blood on his shirt from where Bobby had shot him in the arm. Bobby was trying desperately to keep his eyes open, but the pain in his chest was blinding. "So, tell me detective," Fernandez asked in a pleasant tone, "how is it that I just shot you in the chest and you're not bleeding out all over the floor?"

* * *

**A/N**: Please let me know if you would like more... I love the conversation from reviews :)


	2. Chapter 2

Bobby put his cheek against the cool smooth surface of the floor. His eyes were closed and he was fighting against the twilight just short of unconscious. _Eames_. He thought about his partner, as if willing her to show up would be enough to make her magically appear.

"Detective… Detective..." Fernandez said in a sing-song way kind of jabbing Bobby with the barrel of the shotgun. "Nice vest." Fernandez smiled, as if he was complimenting Bobby on a fashion statement. The vest had saved Bobby's life, but the shotgun blast to the Kevlar and the bash to the head had caused some serious damage. "You know, I thought that raid on the house would take you all day. It was nice thinking about you all tucked away so far out of the city." Fernandez poked Bobby with his foot, to make certain he was listening. "But you left your boys to do the clean up."

Bobby rolled slightly onto his back, lifting his face away from the coolness of the garage floor. He still could not open his eyes, but his brain was a bit more alert. He was thinking about what Fernandez was saying. The raid had been a set up, a diversion to get him out of the city, a snipe hunt so Fernandez could grab up Lucy. Bobby thought about the house in the woods, constructed shotgun style, with room behind room single file and linear, like some kind of antiquated house in the south where the front door looked straight through to the back. The tip was that Theo Fernandez's brother Miguel was there, and so they took the house at dawn. No one was there, and it didn't look like anyone had spent the night there. So Bobby left two other members of the task force, Brian Murphy and Matt Walker, to poke around a bit further while Bobby headed back into the city with the rest of the team.

"Oh Detective, I'd love to take you with me. My brother would love to see you. But, it's not you that I need." Fernandez said and his voice seemed distant. Bobby couldn't tell if the man was walking away or if his consciousness was slipping away. Either way, after a few moments Bobby blacked out.

* * *

"CLEAR." The next word Bobby heard was a familiar word. It was Murphy's voice, and Bobby could hear footsteps. "In here." Murphy said next, and when Bobby opened his eyes, it wasn't Murphy's face in front of him, it was Eames. But she wasn't looking at him; she was looking at his chest.

"Holy shit." Eames mumbled, "About 3 minutes until a bus is on site, hang in Bobby." Eames softly pressed her hand against Bobby's forehead to keep him from trying to move, from trying to sit up.

"Addie." Bobby groaned, her name rang clear in his brain, but it was incomprehensible to Eames. Bobby swallowed hard, struggling with air in his lungs. The weight of the Kevlar felt like it was suffocating him. "Lucy." He said, next.

"We heard the whole thing." Eames said, "I picked up your phone call, switched it to speaker and muted my side." Bobby could hear sirens coming closer. "Where is Lucy?" Eames asked.

"Dunno." Bobby managed. "Laura's, maybe." Bobby again was trying to sit up, but this time EMTs were pressing him backward onto the ground. Bobby could see Eames dialing a number on her cell phone. He could see that whoever she was trying wasn't picking up. "Lucy?" Bobby croaked.

"Yeah, voice mail." Eames replied, wincing at the pain on Bobby's face as the EMTs finally helped him to sit up. All of the color drained from his face and for a moment his eyes were completely out of focus. Eames thought he was going to be sick, but he managed to get by it. Bobby managed to get by a lot of painful things, and Eames knew that he was familiar with the physical pain of what was bound to be several damaged ribs and likely a concussion.

* * *

Lucy pulled onto her street to find it packed with several patrol cars, several unmarked cars, and an ambulance. She was wondering about what happened at one of her neighbor's houses, feeling a bit nervous about anything that should bring out such a police presence. She had been at her sister's feeding Addie, and had ended up staying a bit longer than planned. Sometimes she could not seem to bring herself away from her little daughter. Today, as Lucy was rocking Addie to sleep for a nap at Laura's she had found her self looking in her baby girl's eyes. They were shifting from the cerulean of birth to a deeper color. Lucy was convinced they were turning brown like Bobby's.

Lucy pulled her car over to the curb, realizing that the street was nearly impassable. She stepped out of the car and starting trying to line up the police cars with a particular house. She felt her heart beating in her ears when she realized that her house was at the center of everything. She didn't even realize she had starting walking, she could see Bobby's car in the driveway. At some point she started running, and then suddenly a person was in her way, a tall person caught her mid stride and literally picked her up into his arms and off her feet.

"Lucy." It was Mike Logan saying her name, but Lucy was wriggling in his arms, not paying attention, all of her energy focused on getting to her house, to getting to where she thought Bobby was, to where she knew that something was significantly wrong. "Lucy." Mike wrapped his arms tighter around her. "He's Ok, he's Ok." Mike repeated the words, stroking his hand down her hair, still holding her up and off her feet. "We're finishing securing the scene. Just one more minute, honey, one minute." Mike continued to hold her.

"Let me go. God, let me go." Lucy mumbled, still squirming in Mike Logan's arms.

"CLEAR. ALL CLEAR." Mike Logan heard the words and let Lucy down onto her feet. She was sprinting toward the ambulance and Logan found he had a hard time keeping up with her. Yet, just as suddenly as she had taken off running, she stopped. And, Mike crashed into the back of her. She had rounded the corner of the ambulance to where Bobby was sitting on a stretcher. The EMTs were gently removing his damaged Kevlar. Mike could see Lucy start trembling, shaking. He watched her wrap her arms around herself in a futile effort to steady her emotions.

"Lucy, he's Ok." Mike repeated, reaching out and placing his hands firmly on her shoulders. "He's fine." Mike reiterated, more firmly. Bobby hadn't noticed her standing there, he was talking with Eames, repeating the details, going over some aspects of the raid that morning, of the information they had received the day before, trying to piece together the moments that led to him coming upon Theo Fernandez at his house.

"Goren." Mike finally said, catching Bobby's attention. Bobby's eyes met Mike's first, then shifted to Lucy. And as soon as their eyes met, Lucy jumped forward out of Mike's hands toward Bobby. Mike watched as Lucy slowly reached out and ran her slender fingers ever so softly across Bobby's face. Mike realized that she wasn't saying anything. A lot of women would have been hysterically chattering, but not Lucy. Mike realized that Lucy could say more with her eyes and her body language than most people could say in entire conversations. Mike watched as Bobby reached out and with his thumbs he gently wiped the tears off Lucy's cheeks and then pulled her forward and tightly into his arms. Mike could see Lucy was still shaking and he guessed that Bobby felt like he was going to puke from the pain in his ribs, but Bobby couldn't help himself from holding Lucy. Hell, if Bobby hadn't pulled Lucy into his arms, Mike would've. It was either that, or let her collapse onto the street from the shock of it all.

"We've got an inside problem." Eames came to stand beside Mike. "Fernandez was here for Lucy. Coming upon Bobby was an accident." Eames revealed. Mike Logan was not on the task force, he had responded to the scene when he heard the details on the scanner.

"Well, shit." Logan mumbled. "Goren's gonna turn himself inside out over that one."

"I think he has already started. I'm going to need a favor from you Logan." Eames looked at him, and she rarely asked anyone for favors. "He needs to go to the hospital, and he needs to know that Lucy and Addie are safe. Can you see to that?" Eames asked, thinking that would give her some room to see to Bobby.

"Done." Mike looked at Eames. "An inside problem… any ideas?"

"Yeah, too many ideas. Right now, I think he suspects everyone." Eames allowed, knowing that was a bit irrational, and once Bobby had some time to organize his thoughts they could probably narrow the list.

"Everyone?" Mike asked looking at Eames, quirking his brow, his implication obvious.

"Well, hopefully not everyone." Eames managed a small smile in a very stressful moment, believing that she wasn't on the list.

* * *

**A/N**: Wow, thanks for reading and reviewing. At first, I was just going to simply play around with the word shotgun (the gun, the architecture of the house in the opening of this chapter, and I have some other meanings in my pocket) but your reviews gave me a plot to play with :) So, now you might have a story... if I can keep it in my brain. As always, I love to hear from you.


	3. Chapter 3

The first clear thought Bobby had was at about 7:22am the next day. Up until that point he was slipping in and out of awareness, a combination from the blow to the head, the pain in his ribs from the blast to the chest, and also from the sedation that he knew Eames had insisted upon in order to help keep him in the hospital over night. He reached forward toward the phone and dialed Mike Logan's cell phone number. As he listened to it ring, he closed his eyes. Logan was at his house with Lucy and Addie. He knew that 7:00 or 7:30 was breakfast time for Addie, and he could imagine them in the kitchen, Lucy making cereal. Addie had started to eat cereal and certain baby foods this month. She was growing so big so fast that sometimes Bobby was afraid to blink because he might miss something.

"Logan." Mike answered after about the third ring.

"It's Goren."

"Quiet night." Logan replied.

"Good."

"For you?"

"I'm in the hospital." Bobby bit out, the pain in his chest practically numbing his brain. "What's Lucy doing?" Bobby asked, hating that he had to ask, desperately wanting to be home.

"Making coffee." Logan stated.

"She doesn't drink coffee." Bobby replied, sitting up in the bed, losing his breath from the pain in his ribs.

"I do." Logan offered.

"Right." Bobby was irritated by that. "Is Addie awake?"

"Yeah, she is, she's right here." Logan's tone of voice changed, and it was clear to Bobby that Addie was watching Mike and he was talking in that way to entertain her. "She's in her high chair, I'm feeding her some slimy looking orange stuff." Logan continued in that same kind of baby-talk cadence.

"Pumpkin." Bobby sighed, closing his eyes.

"What? You call her pumpkin?" Logan's tone of voice changed back to a more regular beat.

"No, she's eating pumpkin. The baby food, it's pumpkin. She loves it." Bobby's voice was soft, he kept his eyes closed.

"Yeah, she does." Logan observed, his voice changing back to that sing-song way. "Do you want me to get Lucy?" Logan offered.

"No, tell her I'll call back in a few minutes on the house line." Bobby hung up before Logan could respond. He reached over and pushed the call button for the hospital staff. Mike Logan was in his house, in his kitchen, Lucy was making him coffee, and Logan was feeding his daughter breakfast. Not to mention, Logan was the one keeping them safe. Bobby was going to sign whatever he had to sign so that he could get up and walk out of the hospital right now and get home.

* * *

"What're you doing?" It was Eames voice he heard behind him. At that moment, he was sitting on the side of his hospital bed looking at his sneakers. Last night, Lucy had brought him fresh clothes from home, dark track pants, a clean heather grey t-shirt, socks, and his sneakers. He had convinced the doctor to discharge him that morning, so he didn't actually have to sign any medical release forms. There was nothing they could do for his ribs, and they had monitored him related to the concussion throughout the night. He had slowly, painfully, managed to dress himself, but there was no way he was going to be able to tie his shoes. So, at the moment Eames asked her question, he was trying to figure out what to do about tying his shoes.

"What does it look like." His tone was short, frustrated. Eames could see what he was doing, he was dressed, his discharge papers were on the table, he was headed out of the hospital.

"It looks like you can't tie your shoes." Eames replied, coming around the bed to stand in front of him. He scowled at her, but she reached out and tied his shoes anyway.

"Thanks." He mumbled as he slid carefully off the bed and stood. Eames looked at him for a long moment, and by the way he looked back at her she realized that the _thanks_ wasn't simply for tying his shoes, it was also for generally just saving his ass.

"I'll take you." Eames said, and grabbed his small duffle bag up and off the floor.

"Thanks." He said again, following her out of the room, walking slowly. Eames took that as thanks for grabbing the duffle bag and thanks for being here when I need you. Though, Bobby was starting to wonder how Eames had managed to come by at the exact moment he was ready to leave. He was just about to ask, when she offered.

"Lucy called me." Eames said. "I don't know why you couldn't wait a few hours. They were going to discharge you early afternoon." She muttered to herself.

"You know why." Bobby replied, and Eames did not reply, which made Bobby think that part of her understood. "Anything move last night?" He asked.

"Inside or outside?" She replied, causing the knot in Bobby's stomach to tighten. He hated to think that someone he knew had put his family in jeopardy.

"Either."

"Neither, not really. Definitely nothing inside, though I have some thoughts…" Eames offered.

"Yeah, I have some thoughts on that as well." Bobby replied, not quite ready to get to them. "I still want to move on Theo and Miguel Fernandez, and I don't want to wait for the weekend. As soon as we locate them, I want them." Bobby ground out the words in an almost primal way.

"That parts done. I have that order out. They are to be apprehended immediately. We issued that as soon as we came on scene yesterday." Eames replied. They were now in her SUV bulleting down a surprisingly almost empty street. Bobby twitched a bit at the word on scene. The scene was his home, well his future home as soon as they finished renovating. "They just kind of vanished – yesterday afternoon." Eames commenting, thinking that the task force had a pretty solid idea where Theo and Miguel Fernandez had spent practically every moment the past two weeks. And, for them to pretty much vanish into thin air about 24 hours before they were to be taken into custody was another strong indicator that there was an inside problem.

* * *

At home, Bobby walked into the bathroom with the tub. Eames had dropped him off and had gone to respond to a possible location for the Fernandez brothers. Bobby had wanted to ride along, but it was a rather unreliable tip and Eames insisted that it was doubtful that the brothers would actually be there. Plus, Eames gently reminded Bobby about family coming first sometimes and that Lucy was expecting him at home. Mike Logan was in the kitchen, and when Bobby walked in he could hear over the baby monitor that Lucy was giving Addie a bath. Before leaving to walk back toward the bathroom, he gave Logan a kind of a _thanks-man-nod_, and he switched off the monitor to afford himself a little privacy with his family.

"Is that daddy?" Lucy smiled and asked Addie in that sing-song way that made Addie smile. Bobby watched Addie smack the water with her little hands. "Is that daddy you're smiling for?" Lucy hadn't turned around, she was rinsing the shampoo out of Addie dark riotous curls. Bobby watched his baby-daughter squirm and blink as the water ran over her head. When Lucy was finished rinsing she reached out for a soft hooded towel and scooped Addie up and out of the tub. "That's your daddy." Lucy kissed Addie and held her toward Bobby. Addie promptly softly smacked at the sides of Bobby's scruffy face. Bobby kissed Addie's head, and then he kissed Lucy.

Lucy expertly moved Addie onto her shoulder and stood looking at Bobby for a quiet moment. Bobby watched Lucy blink, and he thought he saw tears, but when she blinked again they were gone.

"I'm um…" Lucy started to say. She had desperately wanted to stay at the hospital with him, but everyone had insisted that she be at home with Addie and that Mike stay with them both just for safe keeping. It had killed her to leave Bobby, but she also recognized that she couldn't leave Addie alone. So, after Bobby was deep asleep, Lucy had let Alex Eames take her home. "I just…" Lucy started to try to say something again, but she couldn't find the words.

"I'm Ok." Bobby said softly, trying to catch her eyes.

"I'm um…" Lucy said, trying again.

"Are you Ok?" He asked, he reached out and titled her chin so that he could see into her eyes. Addie was starting to wriggle on her shoulder. It was getting close to her morning nap time and she was starting to snuggle in against her mom.

"Not really." Lucy admitted. She reached forward with her free hand as if to lay it across his heart, but she stopped just a breath away. His sharp intake of breath and the pain in his ribs showed in his eyes. He couldn't help but remember the last time he hurt his ribs and the first time he had kissed her and had thought about the possibility that he could have a life with her.

"Neither am I." Bobby admitted, not referring to his physical injuries, but thinking about how close he had come to placing Lucy and possibly Addie in jeopardy by not anticipating that his case would move in the direction it did, for not seeing that there was someone on the inside betraying him.

"But I will be." Lucy said, looking at his chest, trying not to remember his shredded shirt, the damaged Kevlar.

"Yeah, me too." He said, and he stopped his thoughts from shotgunning around creating and recreating lists of everyone remotely possible. He gained some focus, and for the first time he put someone clearly on the top of his list of who might be flipping inside-to-out… Matt Walker.

"I'm going to get her dressed and put her down for her nap." Lucy said. Her eyes again returned to his chest thinking about how much pain he must feel from his damaged ribs.

"I'm not taking anything. They prescribed something. II'll wait to take it when I need to get some sleep." Bobby offered. Lucy kind of narrowed her eyes at him, but she did not openly question that decision. Bobby followed Lucy into Addie's room and stood in the doorway watching Lucy deftly dress their sleepy baby girl. A few minutes of normalcy did a lot to soothe his soul. Bobby walked back toward the kitchen, he could see Mike listening to his police radio. Bobby's heart stopped as he recognized the call as officer down, he could hear the commotion on the other side, he recognized the voice of Brian Murphy. His stomach lurched.

"Eames was supposed to catch up with Murphy and Walker. What the hell is that call?" Bobby wanted to grab for the radio, reception was coming in and out. "Who is down? Have you heard Alex on the chatter? Logan, who is down?" Bobby repeated.

* * *

**A/N**: Thanks for reading. I actually don't know who is down... who is down? (I have it in my brain lots of different ways, but nothing is on the page yet)


	4. Chapter 4

"We heard the call as we were pulling up." Olivia Benson entered the kitchen. She was breathless as if she had sprinted inside. Her partner Elliot Stabler was close behind her. Bobby was surprised to see them in his kitchen, in his house. Though, he noted Mike Logan did not seem surprised. Just something else that had transpired in his personal life that he felt somewhat clueless about. But, he didn't ponder that long, the chatter on the radio picked up again, with Brian Murphy still coming in and out. Apparently, two officers were down – both Matt Walker and Alex Eames were injured in some capacity.

"Murphy, this is Goren, identify the injuries." Bobby snatched up the radio and interrupted the conversation. He was the senior office in charge of Murphy and Walker.

"Walker is down, out of sight, injuries unknown, shots fired." Murphy supplied. Bobby could hear that he was out of breath, as if he was running. They could hear the sound of sirens broadcast over the frequency, and then there was a loud rush of white noise.

"I need…" Bobby started his voice just barely a croak, and then he cleared his throat. "I need to get to that scene." Mike Logan started across the kitchen his keys in hand, clearly he was planning on driving to the scene. "Lucy is with Addie…" Bobby started to say to Olivia, who was nodding, indicating she would take care of everything at home.

Bobby slid into the passenger seat beside Logan, his mind racing through everything that was happening. He didn't get the status on Eames, he barely got anything on Walker, hell he didn't even know who was firing the shots. Benson and Stabler had magically appeared in his house to relieve Logan, and he was just about to ask that about that when Logan cut him off.

"Lucy called Benson this morning." Logan offered as he sped toward the scene. Bobby felt as if everyone was reading his mind, which strangely irritated him. Usually he was the one mentally ahead of the game. However, he recognized that it did make sense that Lucy should call Olivia Benson. Over the past year or so they had become friends. What had at first started out as a professional relationship had slowly eeked into a personal friendship. So then Benson had probably called on Stabler. Therefore Bobby figured Stabler's presence was kind of transitive, with perhaps no direct connection to either Lucy or Bobby.

"Who fired the shots?" Bobby asked. Logan was shaking his head indicating he didn't get that information. Logan was concentrating hard on getting to the scene as quickly as possible, so Bobby didn't press him for further information. Bobby jumped at the sound of his cell phone ringing in his pocket. He recognized Murphy's exchange and answered the call on speaker. "Goren." Bobby said in way of _hello_.

"Holy shit, no one was here, then there were all of these shots being fired – from a distance." Murphy just jumped into details.

"Identify the injuries." Bobby commanded.

"Walker was shot twice, once in the shoulder, once in the leg. He's lost a lot of blood, the bullet in the leg took out something major." Murphy started with Walker again, which was reasonable for Murphy, who was close and partnered with Walker. Bobby of course wanted the 411 on Eames.

"Eames dislocated her shoulder ducking for cover, but she wasn't hit." Murphy supplied. Bobby realized that he breathed for the first time in a long time. Well, he almost breathed, his ribs were killing him. Though adrenaline was a little like a powerful narcotic in terms of temporarily pushing pain aside. However, as soon as Bobby understood that Eames was Ok, he could feel a bit of his adrenaline abate, hence the pain in his chest. "We have not apprehended the shooter. Or, maybe shooters. It really was out of no where." Murphy was still out of breath. Bobby could see they were getting close to the scene, he could see the swarm of NYPD vehicles and ambulances in front of him.

"Listen Murphy, I'm pulling up." Goren replied. "I'll see you in one minute." Goren clicked the phone closed.

"He called you on your cell." Logan observed as he screeched to a skidding halt.

"More reliable than those damn NYPD radios sometimes." Goren moved to get out of the car, his eyes scanning the scene. He was trying to take in as much as possible, but mainly he was searching out Eames. About a second later, Eames walked up, her shoulder and arm taped to her body. She had found Bobby first, and he looked at her for a long moment before responding, taking in the fact that she was Ok.

"Walker's in the bus." She, like Logan, and for that matter like practically everyone else the past 24 hours seemed to be reading his every thought. Matt Walker was his primary suspect in terms of moving task force information to the Fernandez brothers, in terms of flat out giving away his personal information or perhaps even simply just putting the Fernandez brother's on the path of obtaining his personal information. "He's unconscious. It does not look good for Walker." Eames offered, following Bobby to the ambulance where they were loading Walker.

"Wait." Bobby commanded as they were about to shut the door.

"There is no _wait_." The EMT bit back, clearly annoyed at NYPD for attempting to delay transport. "You can catch us at the ER." The EMT slammed the doors and Bobby watched the bus peel away.

"This was a set-up." Eames murmured as Brian Murphy walked over. Bobby wanted to question Eames a bit further but couldn't do it with Murphy standing there.

"You can get to the hospital. We'll be right behind you." Bobby offered, encouraging Murphy to follow Walker.

"Sure thing." Murphy replied, excellent at following orders, but also clearly concerned about his partner.

"Set-up." Bobby turned to Eames once they were alone again.

"The shooter, likely from one of those rooftops." She gestured to some buildings across the way. "The shooter was just waiting for us to move on this house." Eames offered.

"Who was the target?" Bobby asked, but he already knew the answer.

"My guess, Matt Walker." Eames offered, which was another strong indicator that Walker was the leak. Walker had served his purpose and the Fernandez brother's were probably attempting to eliminate him. "We should get to the hospital." She looked over at Logan, who seemed to be the newly designated driver.

"A set-up." Bobby paused, not rushing back to the car to in pursuit of questioning Walker. He had been reacting all morning, he needed to take a moment to try to get ahead of what was happening. "Did you see the shooters?" Bobby looked at Eames, who had to stop midstride from dashing to the car. She turned to look at Bobby.

"No." She offered, following Bobby's gaze, watching him look around.

"A set-up." He mumbled to himself, thinking about the tip… how Eames was supposed to respond with Murphy and Walker.. how Eames had picked him up at the hospital… how he had wanted to go with Eames to respond to the tip... how Eames had talked him out of it. So, if someone were setting something up, then (and rightly so) that someone would've guessed that Bobby would have responded to the tip as well. If someone knew Bobby, they would know that his injuries from yesterday would not keep him in the hospital and that he would be even more determined to chase down each and every lead related to this case.

"What?" Eames asked, wondering what Bobby was thinking. And for the first time everyone around him was not in mentally in front of him, he was moving back in front.

"This was the set-up." Bobby turned and frantically signaled for Mike. The realization hit him in the chest harder than the shotgun blast from yesterday. "But the set-up was to get everyone here. The set-up was to get at Lucy. The same set-up as yesterday. Theo Fernandez didn't take me, he didn't want me, he wants Lucy. She is still the target." Bobby called to Eames who was now quite a few steps behind him. He jumped into the passenger side of the car, which Logan already had in motion. As they peeled away from the scene, Bobby could see Eames on her radio, and hear her voice on the radio in Logan's car, she was calling in for back-up to Bobby's house. Bobby had his cell phone open, his brain momentarily split between calling his home line and calling Benson.

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**Author's Note**: Still reading? Should I still be writing...? I love to hear from you and I tend to use your reviews in my writing.


	5. Chapter 5

"What the hell is going on?" Logan ground out as he took a turn so fast the force actually moved Bobby across the seat and towards the passenger side door. Bobby steadied himself by placing his hands on the dash, he pushed himself back against the seat and closed his eyes. Neither Benson nor anyone on his home phone line was answering. Bobby's heart felt like it had stopped beating in his chest. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, and then rubbed the heel of his hand against his forehead. He then placed his hands on the dash, trying to get some air into his lungs, if at all possible his ribs were hurting worse. He needed to get some air into his brain, clear his thoughts, slow them down. He needed to figure out exactly what was going on.

"Fernandez is after Lucy." Bobby started thinking aloud. "He wanted her to bargain with me. But why her?" Bobby mumbled to himself, but Logan was listening.

"Something you love for something he loves." Logan stated the obvious in that eye-for-an-eye kind of way. Bobby opened his eyes and looked at Logan, realizing that he was so unaccustomed to having someone he loved in his life that the most basic motivation had never even entered his mind. "What do you have that he loves?" Logan asked, taking another turn so fast that Bobby almost slid back across the seat.

"A few days ago we raided a place, scooped up three girls. All different ages maybe 12, 7, and 5. None of them are talking, we couldn't establish their identity. There were no adults on premises. They are with child protective services." Bobby said, realizing that was the starting point. Bobby was taking out his phone to call Eames. He needed her to chase down the whereabouts of those kids. Eames was always his go-to, injured shoulder or not, she would get this done.

For the second time in a single hour, they pulled down a street swarming with NYPD and EMTs. This time, Bobby felt like he was going to be ill. Eames had called it in, and Bobby was grateful the response had been so quick, but the amount of activity suggested that he had been right, that someone had tried to make a move on Lucy. He could hear NYPD calling "CLEAR" as he and Logan got out of the vehicle. They approached with a bit of caution, not wanting to alarm the officers on scene. It took every fiber of Bobby's being not to simply run for the front door, but the fact that they were calling "CLEAR" kept him together.

"Holy shit." Logan mumbled, moving to step exactly in front of Bobby to slow him down. The EMTs were wheeling Stabler out on a stretcher. Bobby almost knocked Logan over, not able to hold back any more, he rushed toward the stretcher, toward his house. Bobby pulled out his shield as he moved, adrenaline again flooding his system, pushing the pain from his ribs aside. He was barking out information, identifying himself, asking questions in rapid fire succession, trying to establish where Lucy was, where Addie was.

"She's with Olivia." Stabler pushed to sitting, glaring at the EMT who was trying to push him back down. "Look God damnit," Stabler growled and squinted at the badge on the lanyard around the EMTs neck. "Joyce," He called her by name for emphasis, "I am fine." It was evident that he hadn't been shot, but he did have a nasty laceration across his forehead, that would likely need stitches. "I don't need to be on this damned thing." Stabler referred to the stretcher. But, Bobby's mind was still stuck on the _she's with Olivia_. Who was the _she_ and where was Olivia, and why wasn't it _they are with Olivia_.

Bobby looked past Stabler to see Olivia coming out the front door, Addie in her arms. Relief flooded over his senses, and he managed to catch half of a breath. But as he stood there watching, waiting for Lucy to walk out, he realized that was not going to happen. Stabler had used the singular - _she_, Lucy was not with Olivia.

Without saying anything, Bobby walked over to Olivia and took a sleepy Addie from her shoulder. He ignored the pain in his chest and cuddled his sleeping daughter close to him. He closed his eyes and breathed in the sweet, warm smell of Addie's wildly curly hair. His brain found it almost impossible to believe that everything that had happened had practically occurred during the span of Addie's morning nap. Bobby could tell that Olivia wanted to provide details of what had gone down, but Bobby stepped away for a moment. He just needed a second, a second to hold his daughter. He knew with absolutely certainty that Fernandez would not harm Lucy until Fernandez got what he wanted. So, at this point it didn't actually matter knowing what exactly had happened, all that mattered was that Fernandez had Lucy and Bobby needed to figure out how grabbing up those kids related to Fernandez. Bobby needed to talk with Eames.

Bobby's cell phone was ringing, with Addie balanced securely on his shoulder, he fished it out of his pocket. He expected to see that it was Eames, and was a little suprised when he didn't recognize the caller's number.

"Goren." Bobby answered.

"Lovely day, Detective." The caller said as a greeting. Bobby instantly recognized the voice. "How is that baby girl of yours? Still sleeping?" Theo Fernandez asked, and Bobby automatically looked around, as if Fernandez was standing nearby. Bobby moved to go inside the house. He knew the house was clear. "Your wife, she is lovely." Fernandez continued in a normal conversational tone. "But wait, she is not your wife. You would think, being a civilized man, that when she got pregnant you would've insisted on a shotgun wedding. But you are lapse in your religion, so maybe the small detail of marriage did not interfere too terribly with your morals." Fernandez offered, further baiting Bobby by revealing that he had access to a lot of Bobby's personal information.

"Put Lucy on the phone." Bobby finally replied. He needed to hear her voice. He needed to know that his absolute certainty that Fernandez would not harm Lucy was indeed absolute.

"Do you have Addie?" Lucy came onto the phone, thinking first of Addie's well-being.

"Yes. She is fine." Bobby replied, and was met with silence.

"She must be a fine mother, to think of her child first." Fernandez was back on the line. "She practically threw herself into my arms to keep me from coming inside." Fernandez added. "She feels nice, in my arms, your Lucy." Fernandez practically purred the words, again finding the perfect way to keep Bobby from rationale thought. "So, Detective, you have something that I want..." 

"I have your daughters." Bobby replied, an educated guess, and he couldn't help but look at his daughter in his arms, who was starting to look decidedly unhappy. Bobby could tell she was hungry. He realized that he had walked through the house into the kitchen, so he deftly placed her in her high chair, practically gasping for air over the pain in his side. With his phone to his ear he went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle.

"I find I cannot exactly leave the country, I need them back." Fernandez replied, his tone of voice changing to deadly serious, revealing that Bobby's guess was indeed the case that the children were related to Fernandez.

"What the hell?" It was Logan in the doorway, looking at Bobby standing in what appeared to be a rather domestic scene, in his kitchen, Addie in her high chair, casually carrying on a conversation on the phone. Bobby shot Logan a _ZIP-IT_ look, not wanting Fernandez to prematurely end the call. Bobby silently handed Logan a bottle and pointed to the sink, wanting Logan to warm it with hot water, praying that Addie wouldn't start crying.

"I would like them returned to me and I will return what is yours to you." Fernandez's voice was quiet. Bobby watched Eames walk into the kitchen and automatically take the bottle from Logan's hand and start to warm it under the hot tap water. Bobby was still giving them both a deadly serious _be-quiet_ type stare. Eames could always read him, she practically always knew her part. So, Bobby wasn't surprised that she should saunter into his kitchen and start warming Addie's bottle with her good arm. "I will call you with how we should go about this." Fernandez's voice turned back to a politely civilized tone, and with those words he ended the call.

"That was Theo Fernandez, he has Lucy, we apparently have his daughters. He was planning on leaving the country, but he couldn't leave without them. He wants to exchange Lucy for his daughters." Bobby took the bottle from Eames, tipped it gently to and fro a few times to make the temperature uniform, and walked over and held it for Addie, who took it greedily. Addie was attempting to hold it with her own little chubby hands. To Mike Logan, the scene could not have been any more surreal.

"Those girls, they have been reunited with their mother. She is a U.S. citizen." Eames offered, and Bobby found himself looking for a chair. He needed to sit down before he fell over. Eames started providing more details, but Bobby's head was spinning. He was looking at Addie, still helping her hold the bottle. Bobby looked at Addie's dark molasses curls, so much like Lucy's, then at Addie's eyes, which Lucy insisted were turning brown like his. Fernandez had Lucy, and Bobby needed to get his head clear and get Lucy back.

"We'll work through this." Eames said, her intelligent voice, smooth and calm. And, Bobby realized that he was going to have to give himself to Eames on this one. There was no way he was going to be able to do this on his own.

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**A/N**: Thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing. Now lets see if Eames can get Bobby through this and help get Lucy back...


	6. Chapter 6

Bobby sat in the back seat of the car, letting Eames ride shotgun while Logan drove them all to the hospital. Bobby wanted to talk with Matt Walker and Eames did as well. Walker was their number one suspect in terms of someone potentially providing the information to Theo Fernandez, triggering the events of the past 24 hours.

Olivia Benson had stepped up to take care of Addie. Leaving Addie with Olivia was actually an easy call for Bobby. Olivia had been a part of Addie's life, even before her birth. Lucy and Olivia were good personal friends, so Addie knew and felt comfortable with Olivia. Eames had arranged for some unmarked NYPD to sit on the house, to make certain Addie would be safe.

Bobby jumped as his cell phone started ringing. The sudden movement caused a rush of pain, which made him feel a bit nauseous. But, he swallowed that down and answered the phone.

"So Detective, do you have a plan? Have you already set something in motion?" Theo Fernandez asked in that close, personal friend type tone of voice.

"Let me talk with Lucy." Bobby replied, pointing at the phone. Eames was calling it in. She had set it up for incoming call's to Bobby's phone to be traced and for the point of origin to be located.

"Oh come now Detective, why so short with me?" Fernandez laughed lightly.

"Lucy?" Bobby could hear that despite his remark, Fernandez had handed the phone to someone. "Are you all right?" Bobby asked.

"I'm cold." She said, "like the wind is blowing right through me." Her voice was soft, maybe a little weak. Bobby was nervous.

"I guess you should probably pack her a sweater." Fernandez was back on the phone. "Or maybe I will just hold her to keep her warm."

"Put Lucy back on the phone, I'm not convinced you haven't hurt her. If you hurt her…" Bobby's threat remained unfinished.

"I'm Ok. I'm just cold." Lucy was on the phone again, just for a moment, and then gone.

"I think that uses up all of our time." Fernandez remarked. "Make sure you make those plans. I will be back in touch." He said, and then ended the call. Eames was already shaking her head indicating that they were unable to identify a point of origin. The call had been too short.

"Is she Ok?" Logan asked, continuing to head toward the hospital.

"She said she was cold." Bobby mumbled to himself, leaning back against the seat, closing his eyes. He hated that Fernandez had her, he hated that she was cold. He felt sick, remembering when she was pregnant how she was always hot, she was forever taking off her clothes, kicking off the blankets, turning on the air conditioning even on a cold day. She was the same now that she was breastfeeding. She said her hormones made her hot, all of the time. And, that she should say she was cold meant that something was seriously wrong. "She said the wind is blowing right through her." Bobby whispered, looking out the window, at the clouds moving quickly by in the sky.

"Is she Ok?" Logan repeated the question. "Is she hurt?" Logan was thinking about Bobby asking specifically if Fernandez had hurt her.

"She said she was Ok, just that she was cold." Bobby repeated, kind of trailing off at the end. Logan was pulling into the hospital. Bobby opened the passenger side door, feeling the breeze on his face. But the breeze was warm, not cold. As if he was on automatic pilot, he followed Logan and Eames through the hospital corridors to where Matt Walker had been transferred to a room. Bobby didn't know why he should feel surprise, but the hallway was crowded with cops. In his mind, he had already pretty much convicted Walker as betraying him, but he hadn't verbalized his suspicions. So, everyone was turning out to lend support. Walker was in critical condition and he had not regained consciousness.

"I'm sorry man." Brian Murphy walked over to Bobby. Murphy was referring to Lucy. "This is crazy." Murphy ran his hand through his longish hair and looked into his partner's room.

"Has he um… has he…" Bobby stammered a bit and gestured to Walker. "Said anything?" Bobby asked, finally managed to complete a thought.

"Naw, he lost a lot of blood. They had to do surgery to remove the bullet." Murphy offered. Bobby could tell that everyone in the hall who was pretending not to listen to their conversation was listening very carefully.

"Right." Bobby looked past Murphy, back into Walker's room. Bobby really needed to talk with Walker.

"Why?" Murphy was asking, and at first Bobby didn't exactly know what Murphy was asking about.

"Why, uh, what?" Bobby asked. He was tired. More tired than he wanted to admit.

"Why do you want to know if Walker said anything?" Murphy asked.

"Nothing. It's nothing." Bobby said, now he was running his hand through his hair. "Nothing." Bobby shook his head, he could see Eames down the hallway talking with someone. He looked around for Logan.

"Fernandez. He called you." Murphy kept talking with Bobby, who was only part way paying attention. Bobby wanted to talk with Eames, to talk out loud a bit, to talk things through about how to play this, to figure out the best way to how to get Lucy back safely, quickly.

"Yeah, yeah he did." Bobby replied.

"What'd he say?" Murphy asked. "Did you get Lucy on the phone?" Murphy revealed that he knew the drill, he knew that Bobby would need to talk with Lucy before even pretending to negotiate with Fernandez.

"She said she was cold." Bobby really had no filter to his thoughts. He was deeply unsettled by what she had said, that she should be cold. Maybe she was hurt, and she just didn't say.

"Cold." Murphy looked out the window. "It's not very cold today." Murphy observed.

"No." Bobby looked out the window as well, again looking at the clouds moving through the sky. Bobby circled back around in his thoughts. If she was unharmed, as she had said, it made no sense that Lucy would say she was cold.

"What?" Eames had come back down the hall. She was standing next to Murphy, looking up at Bobby. She could tell Bobby was thinking about something, thinking through something.

"She said - _like the wind is blowing right through me_." Bobby repeated Lucy's exact words. Bobby shifted his eyes and looked at Eames. "I know where she is." He said. "She is at that house we raided the other day. The shotgun style house, where the rooms were all lined up, stacked front door to back door, so the wind could run right through it." Bobby supplied. "Why else would she say that? I used those words when I was talking to her. When I was in the hospital, I was repeating myself, going over the details of the day, circling through my thoughts, I mentioned raiding the house that morning, about the strange southern architecture, about how the design of the house would let the wind run through the rooms and cool the house."

Eames was nodding, ever so slightly. Due to the concussion, Bobby was a bit disoriented so he kept going over the details of the day, and then he would be quiet and circle back through things. He had indeed used those exact words, repeatedly. Eames was walking down the hall, calling in the location of the house, putting things in place to very discreetly surround the place, to check it out. She didn't want to storm the house, she didn't want to spook Fernandez. Bobby spotted Logan, they needed to get back out to the car. Bobby could think of nothing else except getting back out to that house.

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**A/N:** Theo Fernandez was this extremely hot guy that I went to middle and high school with. I came across some old (very old) year books and there he was, writing to me in that sideways kind of way you sign someone's yearbook. He was smooth, very smooth, and I thank him for being the villain. Now... will Bobby catch him?


	7. Chapter 7

Mike Logan pulled the car up at a distance. ESU had already responded and was establishing a perimeter. Bobby pushed himself up and out of the back seat. He hadn't said anything, but he was in more and more pain, and this time as he stood he felt a bit dizzy. He shook it off, but he could tell that Eames had noticed.

"Bobby." Eames said, her voice was soft, she had called him by his first name. She held her hand out as if to touch his arm, but she held back. He gave her an _I'm-ok-look_. And she looked at him, her reservations clear in her eyes. Her shoulder was sore, but she knew it was nothing compared to the aftermath of pain resulting from a shotgun blast to Kevlar.

Bobby looked at the house in the distance, he could see that the front door was standing wide open, and from the light through the house, he could also tell that the back door was wide open. This detail raised the hair on his neck. Something was wrong. Fernandez would not leave the doors standing open.

"We have the perimeter secure." ESU was reporting to Eames. "We have not identified anyone moving around inside. We are beginning to visually inspect the rooms more closely while maintaining the perimeter."

"We have one person inside, on the bed in the middle room. We have not identified anyone else inside." The voice came over the ESU officer's earbud loudly enough that both Eames and Bobby could clearly hear the words.

Bobby looked at the house, one person inside. Please God, let that be Lucy and let her be Ok. Eames nodded at the ESU officer, indicating they could close on the house. As about 6 officers flooded into the premises, Bobby and Mike Logan followed along. Eames, with her injured shoulder and her arm taped to her side stayed behind with the commanding ESU officer.

ESU efficiently secured the scene, and Bobby moved through the house toward the middle room, where he remembered a double mattress on the floor had been when he had last entered the house. Two ESU officers were standing over Lucy. Her feet were bound, as were her hands behind her back, she was also blind folded, and gagged. ESU was carefully undoing the bindings, expertly preserving evidence while quickly freeing her. By the time Bobby was with her, ESU had her sitting, her hands and legs free. He knelt down on the floor in front of her. She blinked a few times letting her eyes adjust to the light. As soon as she focused on him, Lucy threw herself forward and into his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and her legs around his waist. She was burying herself in his warmth, in his embrace, in his smell. He could feel her shaking in his arms. He closed his eyes for a long moment and just took in the feel of her.

"Are you hurt?" Bobby's voice was hoarse, his question barely audible. But she was shaking her head _no_. "Did he hurt you?" He had to ask again, and again Lucy shook her head _no_. He ran his hands through the tangles in her hair, down her back across an unfamiliar feeling shirt. He opened his eyes to see that her legs were bare, and she was wearing a man's French cuffed light blue dress shirt. Lucy remained tightly wrapped around him. He noticed Mike Logan holding a piece of stationery. Logan was wearing gloves, and he moved the note into Bobby's line of sight.

_She smells nice doesn't she? __Like me. __Sorry I missed you._

Bobby realized that Lucy was wearing Theo Fernandez's shirt, and when Bobby breathed in, he realized that Lucy smelled like men's cologne. Bobby's stomach violently turned.

"Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?" Bobby asked the exact same question again. Lucy was still wrapped around him, she was shaking her head _no_. Bobby used his hands to softly pull her away so he could look into her eyes. "Did he touch you, did he hurt you?" Bobby whispered, searching her deep hazel eyes. She was shaking her head _no_. "Did he touch you?" He asked, thinking about the note, the fact that she wasn't wearing her clothes.

"No. No, he didn't touch me." Lucy said, her voice was a gravely whisper. "No." She reached out and touched Bobby's face. "He didn't touch me." She said the words again. Bobby wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against him and held her tight. He ignored the nausea rising up in his chest from the pain in his ribs. He ignored the light headed feeling he had from kneeling on the floor, and just held her tight.

"Detective." When Bobby opened his eyes, it was an EMT standing in front of him. He could see that ESU was leaving, and the crime scene guys were coming in. Eames had come inside and was looking at the note with Mike Logan. She was shaking her head, visibly upset. The EMT gently peeled Lucy out of Bobby's arms, and started taking her vital signs, softly questioning her about possible injuries.

"He um, he uh… he figured out what I'd said, about the wind moving through me. He looked at the front door and opened it, and then moved to the back door and opened it. Then he looked at me and smiled, and laughed a little. Maybe an hour ago, maybe less, he left. I couldn't really tell, with the doors open and my eyes covered." Lucy was looking at Bobby. She was blinking back tears, trying to be strong.

"Addie is with Olivia." Bobby was speaking quietly so no one else would hear. Lucy was nodding; he could see relief in her eyes. Bobby was pushing himself to standing, he needed to contact Olivia Benson, let her know that Theo Fernandez was in the wind. "Let me just say something to Eames, I'll be right back." Bobby's voice was still soft. Lucy was nodding.

Bobby was not surprised to find that Eames had already contacted Benson. Eames was ahead of practically everything, smoothing the path so Bobby could work through the case, get Lucy home safely, and attempt to apprehend the Fernandez brothers. He turned to see Lucy sitting on the bed, wearing another man's shirt, she looked so pale, her shapely legs tucked up under her as the EMTs continued to check over her. Bobby watched her taking rapid shallow breaths. Her eyes never left him, like if she was to look away she would lose track of him.

"I'm fine, I just, I just want to get home." Lucy tried to push the EMTs away, she moved to standing. It was Mike Logan who moved quickly enough to catch her, otherwise she would have collapsed. Logan put his arm around her and Bobby watched as Logan said something softly into her ear. She was nodding, and she looked away from Bobby to look up at Mike. Bobby watched as Mike handed Lucy his phone.

"Olivia." Bobby heard Lucy whisper into the receiver. "I'm fine. How is Addie?" Bobby watched Lucy smile, as if talking with Olivia about Addie was a small step to feeling a bit more normal. "Yeah, she likes pumpkin, she had that for breakfast." Lucy said, and Bobby thought that breakfast seemed like a lifetime ago.

* * *

The next morning Bobby was walking into 1PP. He needed to catch up with Mike Logan on something. Really he just wanted to thank Mike for yesterday, though he hadn't quite figured out how he was going to phrase it. Last night, the remaining members of the task force made 6 arrests across Chicago and New York, all pretty high level, and confiscated multiple millions of dollars in drugs and related money. The bust was well received by numerous people in very powerful positions in law enforcement, including some key staff in the DEA. Though to Bobby, the arrests and seizure of drugs and money were meaningless. Theo Fernandez and his brother Miguel were not among those arrested.

After talking with Mike Logan, Bobby's next stop would be to visit Alex Eames. He was completely floored at how Eames had effortlessly kept their side moving and involved in the operations of yesterday. While he had been completely consumed with thinking about getting Lucy home safely, Eames had smoothed over the action from yesterday with several chains of command, including the task force, Major Case (because of Mike Logan's involvement), and SVU (related to Benson and Stabler). Which reminded him, he also needed to go by and see if he could catch Elliot Stabler.

Bobby leaned back against the elevator wall, trying to catch a breath. He had resisted taking any of the medication that had been prescribed for the pain related to his injuries. He closed his eyes and his brain was immediately flooded with the image of Lucy bound and gagged on the bed in that house yesterday. His senses were assaulted with the memory of the smell of Fernandez on Lucy, the feel of his shirt on Lucy. He hated himself for bringing that kind of danger and violence into the life of his family. And, he was still trying to figure out how to avoid that in the future, which brought him to thinking about Matt Walker, who still had not regained consciousness.

Bobby remembered an afternoon, right after he had closed on the purchase of the house, when Matt Walker and Brian Murphy had come by with a couple other of the younger officers assigned to the task force. Two were visiting from Chicago. They were talking shop over a cooler full of beer, and he remembered with a smile the image of Brian Murphy trying to shotgun a beer and having the carbonated beverage explode into his mouth. Matt Walker had to show everyone how it was done. Bobby hated to think that anyone who had spent such time with him could actually betray him.

"Hold the elevator." A familiar deep baritone called out. Bobby opened his eyes to realize that the elevator hadn't moved, actually it wasn't going to move anytime soon. Bobby was so out of it that he had forgotten to press a button for the floor. When he heard the voice he reached out and pressed the button and actually pressed the doors closed button as well. The last person on this earth that he wanted to see right now was Emil Skoda.

"Goren." Skoda stood outside the elevator, physically pausing before stepping on.

Bobby looked at Skoda, and knew in an instant that the other man was keenly aware of everything that had happened in the past day. This brought Bobby's mind back around to making him feel sick about not keeping his family safe. Lucy had been deeply involved with Skoda for quite a while, in fact, she had almost married him. Bobby could not help but think of the nice, normal, safe life Lucy would have had if she had stayed with Skoda. Emil Skoda would never have brought the kind of violence and chaos into her life that Bobby felt he had managed to bring. Bobby looked at Skoda without saying a word, he managed a small nod of recognition, but he was too tired to do anything else.

"Goren?" Skoda said his name again, but this time it was more of a question, Bobby could almost hear concern in the other man's voice. He thought that was ironic, that Skoda was concerned for him. Bobby wished that Skoda would simply punch him in the face, or dress him down for being so completely careless as to put Lucy and Addie in such danger. Bobby slowly realized that Skoda's concern was sincere and warranted. Bobby tried to catch his breath, but he was in such pain he couldn't. He tried to open his eyes, but he was so disoriented that he couldn't. He tried to step forward and get out of the elevator and away from his thoughts and away from Skoda, but he couldn't. Instead Bobby collapsed onto the elevator floor like a sack of potatoes and completed lost consciousness.

**

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****A/N**: I don't know why, I just can't think of Bobby's life as a pretty package with a pretty bow. Thanks for reading and letting me know by dropping me a review ;).


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